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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43390 ***
+
+AUNT HATTIE'S LIBRARY
+
+for Girls.
+
+
+SERIES I.
+
+    VOL.   I. THE SHEEP AND LAMBS.
+
+     "    II. LILY'S BIRTHDAY.
+
+     "   III. LITTLE MISS FRET.
+
+     "    IV. MAGGIE AND THE MICE.
+
+     "     V. THE LOST KITTY.
+
+     "    VI. IDA'S NEW SHOES.
+
+
+
+
+AUNT HATTIE'S LIBRARY
+
+for Boys.
+
+
+SERIES II.
+
+    VOL.   I. THE APPLE BOYS.
+
+     "    II. THE CHEST OF TOOLS.
+
+     "   III. THE FACTORY BOY.
+
+     "    IV. FRANKIE'S DOG TONY.
+
+     "     V. THE GOLDEN RULE.
+
+     "    VI. LYING JIM.
+
+[Illustration: AUNT HATTIE'S LIBRARY]
+
+
+
+
+The Factory Boy.
+
+BY AUNT HATTIE,
+
+AUTHOR OF THE "BROOKSIDE SERIES," ETC.
+
+
+    "Trust in the Lord and do good, ... and verily thou shalt be fed."
+                                                             DAVID.
+
+
+    BOSTON:
+    PUBLISHED BY HENRY A. YOUNG & CO.,
+    NO. 24 CORNHILL.
+
+
+
+
+    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by
+
+    REV. A. R. BAKER,
+
+    In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the District of
+    Massachusetts.
+
+    ROCKWELL & ROLLINS, STEREOTYPERS,
+    122 Washington Street.
+
+
+
+
+                          To
+
+      NELLIE, ROLAND COTTON, ANNIE, AND FULLER APPLETON,
+
+             CHILDREN OF MY BELOVED NEPHEW,
+
+          THE REV. JOHN COTTON SMITH, D.D.,
+
+       THESE SMALL VOLUMES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED,
+
+                  WITH THE EARNEST PRAYER
+
+    THAT THEIR LIVES MAY PROVE THEM TO BE LAMBS IN THE FOLD
+
+                  OF THE GREAT AND GOOD
+
+                   Shepherd of Israel.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+    CHAPTER I.
+                                    Page
+    THE SILVER DOLLAR,       11
+
+    CHAPTER II.
+    KIND FRIENDS,            21
+
+    CHAPTER III.
+    THE NEW BOOTS,           32
+
+    CHAPTER IV.
+    A SAD STORY,             41
+
+    CHAPTER V.
+    GOING TO SCHOOL,         53
+
+    CHAPTER VI.
+    JOHNNY A FAVORITE,       64
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+    JOHNNY'S TRUST,          74
+
+    CHAPTER VII.
+    JOHNNY'S NEW FATHER,     87
+
+    CHAPTER IX.
+    THE NEW HOUSE,           99
+
+
+
+
+THE FACTORY BOY.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE SILVER DOLLAR.
+
+
+"TAKE a cup of porridge, Johnny, dear. It's too cold to go to work
+without something warm."
+
+Johnny looked in the bowl which stood on the hearth, near a few
+smouldering brands, and shook his head as he answered,--"I'm not very
+hungry, mother. There's only enough for you and Ella." Then without
+another word he hurried away, for the factory bell was ringing; and he
+knew that he must not be late.
+
+Poor little Johnny! How he shivered as he shuffled along that frosty
+December morning! He could not pick up his feet, as the boys say, and
+run; for his shoes were much too large for him, and the heels were so
+worn that it was only by shuffling that he could keep them on his feet.
+He had scarce a quarter of a mile to go; but cold and hungry as the
+child was, it seemed a long way to him. He could not help wishing he
+were a baby like Ella, and could lie in bed all day, with his dead
+father's coat thrown over him to keep him warm.
+
+It was early yet; and few people were stirring except the men, women,
+and children who were hurrying to enter the factory before the bell
+ceased to toll. Johnny hurried, too, for he remembered the scolding he
+had received the day before for being five minutes too late, and was
+just crossing the railroad track when his toe hit against something,
+which he stooped to pick up.
+
+It was a silver dollar; but he did not know it. He had never seen one.
+He thought it was a temperance medal, like what he had seen strung
+around the boys' necks.
+
+His eyes shone with pleasure; he had often wished for a medal, and he
+determined that when he reached the factory he would thread a piece of
+yarn through the hole and wear it outside his jacket.
+
+The place where Johnny worked was a stocking factory. His part was to
+wind the skeins of yarn upon the long spools, from which the men and
+large boys wove it into stockings.
+
+He had forgotten about his hunger now, and was tying a knot in the
+string he had put through the dollar, when a young woman came toward
+him.
+
+"What are you doing?" she asked.
+
+He held up the medal, saying, eagerly, "I found it."
+
+"It's a dollar, a silver dollar, Johnny."
+
+"Oh, goody!" cried the boy; "now I can have some new shoes. I thought it
+was a Father Matthew's medal; but I'd rather have a dollar. Oh, I'm so
+glad!"
+
+The woman looked in his pale face, and couldn't help saying, as she did
+so,--
+
+"Are you hungry, child?"
+
+"Not very."
+
+"What did you have for breakfast?"
+
+His lips quivered, but he knew by her kind face that she was a friend;
+and he told her the whole story of his mother's long sickness; and how
+they had grown poorer and poorer, until there was nothing now but what
+he earned.
+
+"I knew Ella would be hungrier than I," he said, looking the woman full
+in the face with his clear blue eyes; "and so I didn't take the
+porridge."
+
+"Wait a minute; you sha'n't go to work so," was all she said; and then
+she was off through the door, down the long steps in a hurry.
+
+He pulled his stool close to the small wheel, on which was a large skein
+of fine yarn, and began to turn it with his foot, when the woman came
+back, bringing a small basket.
+
+"Here, Johnny, eat this and this," giving him a buttered biscuit and a
+piece of cold meat; "and carry the rest home. There is enough for you,
+your mother, and Ella, to have a good dinner."
+
+Poor Johnny was dumb with astonishment. He could scarcely realize that
+all this was for him; but as the woman waited to see him eat, he pulled
+the hard silver dollar from his pocket and held it out to her.
+
+"No! no!" she exclaimed; "give it to your mother. She'll know what to
+do with it, I dare say."
+
+That was a happy day for Johnny; almost the happiest he had ever known.
+He had begun it by giving up his own comfort for that of his mother and
+sister, and by-and-by God sent him friends to care for him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+KIND FRIENDS.
+
+
+DONALD MILES was the name of the Superintendent of the stocking factory.
+He had just married a young wife, and brought her to live in one of the
+new houses near the mill. She was a Christian woman, who tried to follow
+her Master, and do good wherever she had opportunity. She took a class
+in the Sabbath school, and told her husband she meant to have some
+scholars from the factory. Two or three times she had noticed Johnny
+running up the steps, and thought, "that boy is too small for such
+work." You can imagine, then, how she felt when she heard his simple
+story.
+
+In the evening Johnny and his mother were eagerly talking over the
+various events and scenes of the day when Mrs. Miles opened the door
+and presented herself before them.
+
+"I feel sure," she had said to her husband, "that the child told me the
+truth. His eyes were too honest to deceive; but still I mean to go this
+very day and see for myself. Why, they have nothing to eat and are on
+the very verge of starvation!"
+
+"I wish, Johnny," Mrs. Talbot was saying, "that the dollar was ours; and
+then you should have a pair of shoes; but it is not, and we must
+contrive some way to find the owner."
+
+The room was very poor, but clean as hands could make it. On the floor
+in the corner was a straw bed, between the windows, a long chest, and
+near the fire three small wooden stools standing before an old rickety
+table.
+
+Mrs. Miles soon convinced the poor woman that she was a friend; and,
+before the visit was ended, she found that though one was very poor, and
+the other comparatively rich, there was one tie which bound them
+together,--they both loved Christ, and looked forward to living with him
+forever in heaven.
+
+When she rose to go she said to Johnny,--
+
+"I'll take the dollar with me, and ask my husband what shall be done to
+find the owner, and I'll see about the work for you right away. Why,"
+she added, with a smile, "I can earn a dollar a day closing socks; and I
+never was called smart with my needle; so keep up good courage. Better
+days are coming for us."
+
+"But I've tried a great many times to get work," answered the poor
+woman, shaking her head. "They always told me there was none."
+
+Mrs. Miles gave her head a little toss, as much as to say, "No one need
+tell me that story." Then she laughed as she exclaimed,--
+
+"Well, if I can't get work for you, I'll bring you mine. You need it
+more than I do. Now don't cry,--it will hurt your eyes; but say your
+prayers and go to bed. I'll be sure to come again soon."
+
+When she shut the door, Mrs. Talbot began to cry; but these were happy
+tears, which brought relief to her overburdened heart. Then she said to
+Johnny,--
+
+"Let us kneel down and thank God for sending us such a friend."
+
+"O mother!" exclaimed the boy, when they arose from prayer; "wasn't that
+bread and butter nice? I never tasted anything so good."
+
+"Yes, dear; and when your father was alive we had bread and butter every
+day."
+
+The next morning, when the little boy went to his work, he looked all
+about for his kind friend; but he did not see her until he had been
+dismissed for dinner. He was passing along the sidewalk, when he heard a
+tap on the window of a house close by, and, looking up, he saw Mrs.
+Miles beckoning to him. She had a bundle rolled up in a towel, which she
+told him to give his mother, and tell her she would have company in the
+evening.
+
+And true enough, just as Ella was safely in bed, there was a knock at
+the humble door, and Mrs. Miles walked in, followed by her husband.
+
+Johnny had never seen this gentleman except in the factory; and then he
+looked very grave as he talked with the men or with merchants who came
+from the city. Now it was very different. His young wife had told him a
+pitiful story about the widow; and he came prepared to help her.
+
+"So you were lucky to-day, Johnny, and found a dollar," he began, taking
+the silver piece from his pocket. "I have made inquiries for you, and
+can find no one who claims it; so I think you may keep it with a good
+conscience."
+
+Johnny's eager face expressed his thanks.
+
+"What would you like to buy with it?"
+
+"A pair of shoes, sir."
+
+"Well, come on to the shoe-store."
+
+"Yes," said the lady, with a smile; "and while you are gone, I'll give
+Mrs. Talbot a lesson in closing the seams of the stockings."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE NEW BOOTS.
+
+
+AS they walked together toward the store, Mr. Miles became as much
+interested in his young companion as his wife could have wished. The
+child discovered so much intelligence, and had evidently been so well
+trained, that the superintendent fully agreed with Mrs. Miles, that
+it was a pity he should not have a chance to go to school.
+
+[Illustration: Mr. Mills going with Johnny to buy Shoes
+
+Series II, vol. iii, p. 32.]
+
+When they reached the store, the gentleman said, laughing,--
+
+"Show us your best goods, now; we want a pair of stout brogans, such as
+you can warrant will turn water."
+
+"For him?" asked the merchant, nodding his head toward Johnny.
+
+"Yes, for him. You see he needs them badly enough."
+
+"Boots would be better."
+
+"Ah, yes."
+
+Mr. Miles's eyes began to twinkle. He had a happy thought; and so he put
+Johnny's silver dollar, which he had been twirling by the string, into
+his vest pocket, and began to examine carefully one pair after another
+of the boots laid out for him on the counter.
+
+"This is a good pair," he said, at last. "What is the price?"
+
+"Three dollars. I'll warrant those; they are custom made; but they were
+too small for the child whose mother ordered them. I should have
+charged her five if they'd suited."
+
+"Yes, I see they're first-rate boots,--what, in the hose line, I should
+call 'A, number one.' Now I'll tell you what I propose. This little
+fellow is the son of a widow, who, when my wife found her, had literally
+not one mouthful of food. Just think of such destitution if you can!--a
+good Christian, too; but the death of her husband and her own long
+sickness have exhausted everything. I propose to give half the price,
+and let you give the other."
+
+"Oh, I can't afford that! Why, I've taken off two dollars already."
+
+"Look here, now," urged Mr. Miles; "I'm going to start a subscription
+for the benefit of the widow. It would make your heart ache to see how
+very destitute she is of everything. I want your name down, of course; I
+must have it. So here goes,--'Allen Manning, one dollar and a half.'
+There, you'll be glad whenever you think of having made a child happy
+and comfortable."
+
+"Well, if you say so, I suppose I must."
+
+"Thank you. Now I want your wife to join with mine and just make the
+widow's hovel a little more tenantable. They'll work together finely, I
+know. Mrs. Miles says she is sure a little nourishing food will do more
+for the poor soul than a shop-full of medicine. You see, the poor
+creature thinks herself in a decline."
+
+Mr. Manning tied up the bundle and handed it to Johnny; and then the two
+started off for home, the boy having looked the thanks his trembling
+lips refused to utter.
+
+"Now, Johnny," said Mr. Miles, "here's your medal; wear it around your
+neck as long as you are a truthful boy. When you tell your first lie,
+bring it to me."
+
+"I don't dare to tell lies, sir; mother says God hates liars; but 'those
+that speak the truth are his delight.'"
+
+"That's true doctrine; and here we are."
+
+Mrs. Miles opened the door when she heard her husband's voice, and said,
+in a pleasant tone, and manner,--
+
+"She learned the stitch in half the time I did."
+
+The proud husband tapped her glowing cheek. I am sure he was thinking
+what a darling little wife he had. And when Johnny eagerly related the
+story of the boots, I know she thought,--
+
+"That is so like Donald; he has such a noble heart."
+
+"And I have the medal,--I mean the dollar, too, mother. I'm to keep it
+till I tell a lie."
+
+"Which I hope will never happen, dear. But did you thank our good,
+generous friends? I have no words to express my gratitude."
+
+"Never mind for words, Mrs. Talbot. Good-night."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A SAD STORY.
+
+
+IT was, indeed, time that help should come to the poor widow, for a
+cough had fastened itself on her lungs, which would soon have ended her
+life. The room was damp and chilly, and her clothing quite too scant for
+winter. Mrs. Miles would not wait till she had earned money to buy wood
+and clothing and food.
+
+"They would all freeze and starve," she told the people where she went
+begging. "I want to get something to save their lives; and then, when
+she is comfortable, the woman can earn enough to support her family."
+
+In two weeks you would never have known the room; the glass was mended,
+and now the sun shone in. There was a pretty, old-fashioned bedstead,
+four nicely painted chairs, a table with leaves, a tiny mirror, a patch
+spread, and the cunningest little cooking-stove, which kept the room
+beautifully warm. At least, Johnny thought so when he came dancing home
+from his work.
+
+Besides all this, Mrs. Miles had procured from an old lady some healing
+syrup, which had nearly cured the troublesome cough; and Mrs. Talbot
+could sew now very well, without that terrible pain in her side.
+
+She told her dear friend one day, that if she could only forget her past
+trouble, she should be quite happy,--happier than she had ever expected
+to be again.
+
+"You must tell me about your troubles," Mrs. Miles said. And one
+afternoon, when Johnny was at work in the factory, and Ella was taking
+her nap, Mrs. Talbot began,--
+
+"I was married when I was only seventeen, and went with my husband to
+the western part of New York State. He was a carpenter, and could get
+good wages, which supported us in great comfort. Johnny was almost seven
+years old when Dexter, that is, my husband, told me he wanted to bring
+home one of his workmen to live with us. The man had no home, and, as he
+did not think it right to spend his evenings in a tavern, he was very
+lonely. His name was Robert Hardy, and he gave very little trouble. He
+grew to be fond of Johnny, and spent many leisure hours in amusing him
+and making him playthings.
+
+"But one day he came home sick; and for two weeks he never left his bed.
+Dexter and I took all the care of him. When he grew better, he went away
+to his mother. He sat by the fire thinking. I expected he would thank
+us; but he did not. He held Dexter's hand like a vise; and he tried to
+say good-by to me; but his voice failed. I have never seen him since. I
+feel sure he was grateful. The doctor had told him our care saved his
+life.
+
+"The very night he left, Dexter grew delirious; he had stayed at home
+with a cold for a week. The doctor came again, and said he had taken the
+fever.
+
+"Oh, those were dreadful days! He grew worse and worse, and I--it breaks
+my heart when I think that I had nursed a stranger, and couldn't nurse
+my own husband--I was lying on a bed in the same room; and my little
+Ella lay beside me. Every moan of Dexter's went through my heart; and
+when he died, all hope and joy died with him. I cared for nothing. I
+remember but little of those long, weary months which followed. I should
+have died but for the kindness of my neighbors.
+
+"The Rector visited me; but I scarcely understood what he said. When
+Dexter died, there were three hundred dollars laid by in the bank. Fifty
+of it went for his funeral expenses and my mourning; and the rest went
+little by little, till I had not a shilling left. Then Johnny was taken
+sick. I hoped he would die; I hoped we all should die; but I began to
+think that I was not prepared to follow my husband to heaven. He loved
+his Saviour, and I did not.
+
+"I tried to pray. The Rector's wife prayed with me, and led me to Jesus.
+I learned to trust in him; but I was wholly inexperienced, and knew not
+how to earn a living for myself and my little ones. I thought if I
+could only get home to my parents that I should be happy; but I had
+nothing left to pay my expenses.
+
+"One by one my pieces of furniture were sold, and I was dependent on
+charity for my daily food. At last they raised the money to pay my fare,
+and, with all I had in the world packed in Dexter's chest, I left the
+place where I had experienced the greatest joy and the greatest sorrow I
+had ever known.
+
+"When I reached home I found my father helpless from a paralytic
+stroke, and mother worn out with care of him. One of my friends owned
+this old house, and offered me the use of it. He said, as it was near
+the factory, we could get work. I might have done something, but I took
+cold and was unable to sit up. Afterward, when I inquired again and
+again at the factory, I was told that they had already more applicants
+than they could supply.
+
+"At last Johnny got a place there; but his wages were small,
+and--and--unless you had found us, I think we should really have
+starved."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GOING TO SCHOOL.
+
+
+SPRING came at last; and then what delight Ella felt in being allowed to
+run out of doors, and play on the new, fresh grass with the pussy Mrs.
+Miles had given her!
+
+Johnny was still in the factory; and Mrs. Talbot worked away at the
+hose, making a very comfortable living. She could smile now at Ella's
+cunning ways, and laugh with Johnny at the news he brought from the
+mill, after his day's work was done.
+
+He was in Mrs. Miles's class in Sabbath school,--her best scholar, she
+said. He had won a prize already for obtaining two new scholars; and
+what do you think it was? Why, a new Bible with clasps; and very proud
+he was of it, too. Every Sabbath he learned his verses in it,--putting
+in the red ribbon-mark with great care.
+
+In the evening, Johnny read to his mother while she sewed, and now he
+was learning to write.
+
+Mrs. Talbot made a copy on the slate, and he wrote underneath, trying to
+make every line better than the last.
+
+One day he came running home from his work, his face looking very bright
+and happy.
+
+"Mother! mother!" he called out; "I'm going to school! I'm not going to
+work any more,--I mean not all day. Mrs. Miles has settled it! And O
+mother! I'm to go there this evening for a big bundle of clothes. She's
+made me a jacket out of a coat of her husband's, and that was what she
+wanted my other jacket for. Oh! oh! I'm so glad!"
+
+"That is news!" exclaimed Mrs. Talbot.
+
+"I'm to be advanced," he added; "she says so, and paid by the hour; and
+I shall earn just as much working between schools as I do now. O
+mother! isn't Mrs. Miles splendid?"
+
+In the evening, Johnny went for the bundle; and the lady accompanied him
+home to see how the new clothes fitted.
+
+"It's my first trial," she said, laughing; "and I'm very proud to think
+that I've succeeded so well."
+
+Johnny turned round and round, as directed, to show first the back, then
+the shoulders and front.
+
+"I find I have a natural gift at tailoring," cried Mrs. Miles. "I shall
+throw up making hose, and devote myself to my new calling. Just see that
+sleeve, now! It looks as well as if it were bought from a fashionable
+store."
+
+"I don't know how to thank you," murmured the widow, laughing through
+her tears. "I should have tried to cut them over, of course; but I'm
+afraid I should have made a bungling piece of work of it."
+
+"Well, then, if you confess so much, I will tell you that I have a right
+to be proud; for the times that jacket has been ripped and sewed, and
+ripped and basted and pressed, are beyond calculation. I made a study of
+Mr. Miles's wedding-coat, at last, particularly the sleeves, and then I
+found out what my trouble was. But the victory was worth all the pains;
+so I don't count the four days I spent on it lost time."
+
+"I mean to be very careful of my new clothes," said Johnny, who had
+been listening in open-mouthed wonder.
+
+They both laughed at his grave tone; and then Mr. Miles came for his
+wife; and they talked about the Sabbath school.
+
+"I want you, Mrs. Talbot, to do my wife a favor," said the gentleman,
+trying to look serious. "She is desirous of having an infant class in
+the Sabbath school, and wants you for the teacher. Ella, she says, is
+old enough to go with you."
+
+"Me!" exclaimed the widow, in great astonishment. "Me! Why, I am not
+competent to teach any one."
+
+"Neither am I," urged Mrs. Miles; "but I do love my Saviour; and I want
+the boys and girls around me to love him; so I try to tell them what a
+good Being he is, and what he has done for us. Can't you do that?"
+
+With a deepened color the widow answered,--
+
+"At least, I will try."
+
+"I knew you would; and if you will only tell them the 'sweet story of
+old,' as I heard you telling it to Johnny one of the first visits I made
+you, and while I was waiting in the entry for you to answer my knock, it
+is all I will ask. Ever since that time I have only been waiting for
+summer so that the little ones, Ella among the rest, can go out."
+
+[Illustration: Johnny with a new Scholar for the Sabbath-school.
+
+Series II, vol. iii, p. 63.]
+
+"She tells me beautiful stories about Daniel in the lion's den,"
+exclaimed Johnny; "and about Joseph in prison. I can read them, too,
+in my new Bible."
+
+"There is a small vestry which seems made on purpose for your school,"
+suggested Mr. Miles.
+
+"Where we hope to see you next Sabbath," added the lady.
+
+"I will do the best I can," was the humble reply; "and I am sure I shall
+love the work."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+JOHNNY A FAVORITE.
+
+
+I WISH you could have seen Johnny the first morning he started for
+school. His face was as clean as soap and water could make it; his hair
+was nicely parted on his broad forehead; his eyes shone like stars; and
+his mouth was wreathed with smiles. He wore the new suit Mrs. Miles had
+given him, and a clean linen collar around his neck. In one hand he
+carried a little pail full of dinner; and under his other arm, his
+spelling-book, reader, and slate. He was to call at Mrs. Miles's for a
+pencil; and so, after bidding his mother good-by and hearing her call
+after him, "Be a good lad, Johnny, and don't let any idle boys turn you
+from your book," he hurried away to be in season to choose a seat.
+
+This was the first day of the term, and the earliest scholars had the
+best chance.
+
+Mrs. Miles met him at the door with the long slate-pencil nicely
+sharpened in her hand; and, having looked at him from head to foot, she
+said, approvingly,--
+
+"You are just right, Johnny, and I'm proud of you." Then she kissed his
+glowing cheek, and he ran down the steps.
+
+I suppose you would like to know where the silver dollar was all this
+time. Why, round Johnny's neck, to be sure! You know he was to wear it
+till he told a lie; and, as he had never departed from the truth, it was
+still there, fastened to a nice ribbon that his mother had bought for
+it.
+
+At school, Johnny liked his teacher and the boys; and they liked Johnny.
+In school he was as grave as a judge, studying his lessons with all his
+might; but at recess there was not a merrier boy among the whole set.
+Playing ball or catcher were new games to him, who had always been
+obliged to work so hard, and he enjoyed every moment of the time given
+to them.
+
+Then he was always fair at his plays, and ready to oblige his
+companions. By-and-by it used to be said,--
+
+"Don't cheat, now! Be fair, like Johnny Talbot."
+
+This pleased Johnny's friends more than all the rest. To be sure they
+liked to have him a good scholar,--to have him popular among his
+school-mates; but it was best of all to know that he tried to do what
+God would approve.
+
+At home he was just the same boy that he was when I first began to tell
+you about him, and was as ready to give up his pleasure to his mother
+and Ella as he had been to give up his scant breakfast of Indian
+porridge, when he knew there was not enough for all.
+
+As you may imagine, Johnny was a very busy child. He rose almost as soon
+as he could see, and reached the farm where his mother and Mrs. Miles
+bought their milk, before the farmer was ready for him. Then he was back
+with his two pails, and off for the factory for a couple of hours.
+
+He was very happy here, for all the men and women smiled upon him, so he
+whistled away at his work, though the noise of the machinery prevented
+any one but himself hearing his music.
+
+When the town-clock struck eight he was off for home, where he had only
+just time to eat his breakfast, wash and dress for school, before it
+was the hour to start.
+
+After school, he changed his clothes again, and had three more hours for
+work before dark.
+
+So the summer passed happily away. Sometimes, indeed, when the boys were
+starting off for nuts; or when he heard them on the common, flying their
+kites, he used to wish, just for one moment, that he were rich, so that
+he could have time to go with them; but he did not cherish such
+thoughts. He knew that God had been very kind to him, and that his
+heavenly Father had ordered all things for his best good. His mother had
+explained to him that it was for Joseph's future advancement that God
+allowed him to be put into prison, and that this great and good Being is
+always watchful over those who love and trust him.
+
+At home, though Johnny had little leisure, yet he contrived to please
+Ella so much that she longed for his presence, and would run forth to
+meet him, her apron full of grass and flowers, which she had gathered
+for dear Johnny.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+JOHNNY'S TRUST.
+
+
+BY the industry of Johnny, and the wages of his kind mother, the family
+at the cottage had passed a very comfortable summer; but now work was
+scarce, and the widow looked forward with some dread to the cold
+weather.
+
+She well knew that more than one third of the women who worked for the
+factory had received no hose for several weeks; and that it was only
+through her friend's exertions that Mr. Miles sent it regularly to her.
+
+Then, although her earnings had provided them with abundance of good
+plain food, yet this sum, even if continued, would not supply fuel and
+warm clothes. Nor was there anything to pay for mending the roof, where
+the rain dripped in during every shower.
+
+It was on a dreary November evening that Mrs. Talbot talked with her son
+while Ella, untroubled by anxiety or care, lay soundly sleeping in the
+bed at the farther corner of the room.
+
+With a sigh, the widow told her boy she feared trouble was before them.
+
+"Everything seems dark," she went on; "I can't see where help to carry
+us through the winter is coming from. We can't live in this house much
+longer unless it has new shingles on the roof; and I know that is a
+very costly job. Then we all need warm clothes. I'm afraid, Johnny,
+you'll have to leave school and work harder than you have ever worked
+before;" and she sighed again.
+
+Johnny's chin trembled. "I can't work in the mill, mother," he began,
+trying to keep back a sob. "One of the men told me to-day there were no
+orders from the merchants, and they would have to stop."
+
+The widow covered her pale face with her hands. "We shall starve,
+then," she cried out, in a voice of agony. "Oh, if your father were only
+alive!"
+
+She leaned on the table and wept bitterly.
+
+"Mother," faltered Johnny, drawing his coat-sleeve across his eyes;
+"mother, you told me our heavenly Father loves us better than any
+earthly father. Won't he help us if we pray to him? Don't cry so,
+mother; I think he knows about it, and perhaps he'll take care of us,
+as he did when we were starving before."
+
+"Johnny! Johnny! I've been wicked. I've been doubting him all day. Yes,
+my child, he is good, merciful, and true to his promises, even to poor,
+weak creatures like me. We will pray, and we will trust. I feel happier
+already. I have been carrying my burden of care when he says we may cast
+it on him. Come, Johnny, we will pray."
+
+They kneeled together by the firelight; and the woman, with a full
+heart, thanked her heavenly Father for her precious boy,--that his faith
+had not wavered when she so wickedly doubted his power or his
+willingness to help them. She thanked him again for his former care of
+them, and she urged his gracious promise, "I will be the widow's God,
+and a father to the fatherless."
+
+She arose and took her seat with almost a smile.
+
+"All my anxiety has gone," she said, in a cheerful tone; "I know my
+heavenly Father is able and willing to help us. Johnny, my precious boy,
+how could I murmur when you and Ella are spared?"
+
+"I prayed in my heart all the way home," faltered the boy; "I didn't
+know what we should do; but I kept saying to myself,--
+
+"'God knows all about it,--just as he did about Joseph in prison.'"
+
+His mother drew him to her side, and kissed his forehead.
+
+"Now you must go to bed," she said. "Though we trust God for the
+future, we must do all we can to help ourselves. I have work for another
+week; and you must be off early to yours. When this fails, I feel sure
+that we shall be provided for somehow."
+
+Johnny lay quiet on his couch, and his mother thought him asleep. She
+read chapter after chapter of God's holy word, comforting herself in his
+gracious promises, when she was startled by hearing her boy say,--
+
+"Mother, there's my silver dollar, you know. That will buy a good deal."
+
+"Yes, dear."
+
+Her voice trembled. She knew how much he prized that dollar, and how
+often Mr. Miles had asked to see it, "to be sure," he said, "that it was
+not lost or forfeited." She resolved that not until everything else had
+been sacrificed should that dollar be parted with.
+
+Two days later Johnny ran home with the joyful announcement,--
+
+"Mrs. Miles has come home! I've seen her. She beckoned me to go in, and,
+O mother! what do you think she showed me? The cunningest little baby I
+ever saw. She wants you to come right over, and she----"
+
+Mrs. Talbot interrupted him by saying,--
+
+"That is good news! I'll go at once, and take Ella, so that I can stay
+and help her. Rake up the fire as quickly as you can, and put on Ella's
+hood."
+
+"I felt a little troubled for you," exclaimed the lady, when, after a
+cordial embrace, she had heard a confession of the widow's fears; "but I
+am sure all will come out right and bright. That dear Johnny! I hope my
+boy will be just like him;" and here she gave the baby a good squeeze.
+
+"If the mill is shut, as I suppose it must be, we shall go to my
+father's for the winter. It will be a trial to all of us; but we will
+trust it is for the best. My husband told me that he should know
+certainly at the end of another week. If no orders come in before that
+time, they can't keep on."
+
+Mrs. Talbot took the baby and began to caress it to hide her troubled
+face; but presently said, with a smile,--
+
+"How thankful we ought to be that there is One who orders all events in
+our lives, and that this Being is he who calls himself our Father."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+JOHNNY'S NEW FATHER.
+
+
+THE cold weather came on early this year. As he ran shivering home from
+school, Johnny saw, at almost every house, the preparations for winter.
+Here was a pile of wood, and there a large heap of coal, suggestive of
+warmth and comfort. Two days more and the important question about the
+factory would be decided. If Mrs. Miles went away, it would be very
+desolate. God only knew how they should be able to get along.
+
+He thought of all this one night as he was returning from the factory,
+and to comfort himself began humming his favorite tune,--
+
+    "I have a Father in the promised land."
+
+As he came in sight of the cottage, he wondered at the bright light
+which reflected from the windows; but he wondered still more at the
+scene presented within.
+
+Their one table was set in the middle of the floor, and spread with such
+abundance as he had never seen there. His mother was hurrying to and
+fro, and intent on the cakes she was frying, while at the same time she
+talked with a well-dressed man who sat near the fire holding Ella in his
+lap.
+
+"I haven't forgotten your favorite dish," she said, with an arch smile.
+"You liked rye fritters best, while Dexter preferred buckwheats."
+
+"Ah, there is Johnny!" exclaimed the stranger, holding out his hand.
+"Don't you remember me?"
+
+It was, indeed, an old friend,--the man who had been watched and nursed
+by Mrs. Talbot and her husband, and from whom she had never since heard.
+He had spent a week in searching for her, he said; and now he meant to
+take care of her and the children.
+
+After supper, he rocked Ella to sleep, and then begged to hold her
+awhile; for, he said, "I have something to tell you."
+
+"You know I had not fully recovered when I went away," he began. "I
+tried to thank you, but I couldn't; my heart was too full. I heard of
+Dexter's death, and felt that I had lost a brother. The next thing I did
+was to make a resolution to be a brother to you and yours. I worked hard
+and saved every penny. Not that I thought money could pay you for your
+care of me; but I felt that you might need help.
+
+"There," he added, holding out a package, "is the first I earned. I laid
+it aside for you."
+
+The widow's face flushed as she saw written on a corner of the wrapper,
+"Two hundred dollars."
+
+"I found a good place and succeeded well. Every day I repeated the
+prayer Johnny taught me on my sick-bed, and God answered it. I saw my
+need of a Saviour, and gladly accepted the one offered me in the Bible.
+I wrote again and again to you, sending my letters to our old place; but
+I had no reply. At last I grew too anxious to wait longer, and, settling
+my business, I set out to find you. I wish I had started a year ago."
+
+"God's time is the best time," murmured the widow, her eyes full of
+tears.
+
+Then Mr. Hardy bade Johnny bring the Bible, and they had reading and
+prayers together.
+
+Early as the widow rose the next morning, their guest was up before her,
+and on the roof examining the building. In the course of the day the
+leak was stopped, the broken steps mended, and a new lock put on the
+door.
+
+Toward night he went out, but soon returned with a wagon containing a
+barrel of flour, two casks of potatoes, beside sundry small parcels. An
+hour later the wagon came again with a neat bedstead, mattress, and two
+stout blankets, and a whole web of cotton cloth for sheets.
+
+Mrs. Talbot clasped her hands on her breast, saying to herself, "The
+Lord has, indeed, appeared for me." When she tried, with a broken voice;
+to thank Mr. Hardy, he only smiled as he said,--
+
+"Wait a little. You'll find I'm selfish after all."
+
+They had a long talk that evening, after the children were asleep, which
+accounted perhaps for the pretty pink in the widow's cheek, when Johnny
+saw her the next morning.
+
+"Come here, my boy," said Mr. Hardy, drawing a stool to his side; "I
+loved your father. He was one of the best men I ever knew. But as he is
+gone, your mother last night consented that I should be a father to you
+and Ella. Will you be my true and loving son?"
+
+He opened his arms, and Johnny was clasped to his breast.
+
+"I will try to be a good son," he whispered.
+
+As Mr. Hardy urged there was no use in delay, the next Sabbath morning
+they went to the Rector's house and were married, Mr. Miles giving the
+bride away.
+
+When Mr. Hardy examined the cottage, he did it with the resolution to
+repair it, if it proved worth the expense. But he found many of the
+timbers rotten, and the sills sunken into the ground. He thought it
+better, therefore, to put up a new house, for which he had abundant
+means. He hired an old barn, and fitted it up for a shop, and then,
+when not otherwise engaged, labored diligently at getting out the frame,
+doors, and windows for his new building.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE NEW HOUSE.
+
+
+THE factory was closed, but only for a few weeks. Just as Mr. Miles was
+making preparation to leave, orders came in, which obliged him to employ
+all their old hands.
+
+Johnny did not leave school, but worked two hours in the morning, as
+before. He did not work at night, because his new father insisted that
+every boy must have some time to play; and then, when Mr. Hardy began to
+have more work than he could do, Johnny must get kindlings for his
+mother, or run of errands for her.
+
+In the spring the new house was finished; a plain, neat building, with a
+pretty portico over the front door. Johnny and his mother often talked
+about their old trials, and always remembered with pleasure that in the
+hour of their sorest need, they did not forget to trust in the great
+and good God.
+
+Would you like to know what kind of a house it was to be? I will try to
+describe it as Mr. Hardy did to Johnny and his mother one evening, with
+Ella sitting on his knee.
+
+"There," he said, drawing a plan on Johnny's slate, "is the front door,
+which leads into the entry. Out of this on one side is a room, which we
+will call the Sunday-room; because I shall, by and by, have an organ in
+there, and we will sing psalm tunes on Sunday."
+
+Johnny gave a scream of delight, and Ella asked, "May I sing, too?"
+
+"Certainly, my dear. Now here on the other side is the room where we
+shall live and take our meals. Behind the front entry is a large closet,
+into which I mean to put lockers and drawers, so that your mother can
+keep her dishes nicely arranged, as they used to be in her old home. I
+remember," he added, with a smiling glance at his wife, "how cosily the
+room used to look when Dexter and I came home from our work, and how I
+thought I should be the happiest man living if I had somebody to care
+for me as you did for Dexter.
+
+"Besides, there will be a kitchen and a shed beyond, where you will have
+a chance to cut and pile wood. Ella must have some work, too, and so
+here goes the chicken-house, where she will have to feed the biddies,
+and find the nice white eggs. Upstairs, Johnny, there will be four
+chambers, beside a tiny room over the front entry."
+
+"Mother is crying!" exclaimed Ella, springing to the floor.
+
+"It seems like a dream, a happy dream," said Mrs. Hardy, softly. "Only a
+few weeks ago, and we were so destitute, and knew not where to turn for
+help!"
+
+"But we prayed to God, mother, and he heard us. I guess that's why he
+sent Mr. Hardy here, don't you?"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber's Note: Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Factory Boy, by Madeline Leslie
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43390 ***